Mars rover Curiosity has set off on an epic journey to Mount Sharp

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A five mile excursion is hardly a groundbreaking achievement — it’s a leisurely little drive, if anything. If the trip is taking place on the other side of the solar system, it becomes much more impressive. NASA’s Curiosity rover is set to begin its most challenging mission — an epic trek across the barren red dunes of Mars in search of awesome science.

Curiosity arrived on Mars almost a year ago in August of 2012 using a wonderfully complex, but highly effective rocket sled. Since then it has mostly trundled around near the landing site analyzing rocks and taking pictures. This new journey will be the first long trip the rover has made.

NASA has gotten Curiosity warmed up with two short jaunts in recent days. The first was a July 4th drive of 59 feet, followed by a few days of rest. On July 7th, the rover journeyed 131 feet. This may not sound like a lot of distance, but Curiosity’s top speed on hard, flat terrain is only 0.09 mph. It’s not built for speed, but for stability. Due to the great distances involved, it is impossible for NASA to control the rover in real time. Researchers must carefully plan each stage of the journey and send the commands in batches. If you get a one ton robot hung up on a rock while it’s on another planet, you’re pretty much done.

This new phase of the mission is meant to expand on discoveries made back in March. That’s when Curiosity fulfilled one of its main mission goals of locating a spot known as Yellowknife Bay. Analysis of sediments there showed the presence of clay with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur — all indicative of a wet, low-salt Mars in past eons. The question is, what caused Mars to become the dry, acidic desert it is today? Curiosity’s new quest could provide some answers.

When Curiosity reaches its destination five miles away, it will be on the slopes of Mount Sharp (more properly known as Aeolis Mons). This 3.4 mile-tall spire is the central peak within Gale Crater, Curiosity’s landing site. Mount Sharp is taller than Earth’s Mount Rainier, and nearly as towering as Mount McKinley. Although, Curiosity isn’t scaling the entire thing — its mission calls for the rover to explore the lower reaches of Mount Sharp where exposed geology could add supporting evidence to the discoveries from March.

NASA is taking things slow and steady as Curiosity ventures off toward the mountain. Allowing for a few stops along the way, the rover should reach the base of Mount Sharp in about a year. Scientists believe studying the layers of Mount Sharp will reveal evidence on how the Martian environment has evolved over the ages. Maybe at the end of Curiosity’s mission the Red Planet won’t seem quite so alien.